legal excellence since 1943

Happy New Year to you. 2018 marked the 75th anniversary of Majmudar & Partners, and we celebrated it by launching our New York office.  This move has been well received by our clients and has added a new dimension to our growth. M&A in India The Indian M&A market crossed its all-time highs and saw…

Recent developments The Indian tax authorities have started invoking the general anti-avoidance rules (“GAAR”) under India’s Income-tax Act, 1961 (the “IT Act”).  In the last twelve (12) months, tax notices have been issued to many Indian subsidiaries of foreign companies to question transactions such as mergers, demergers, hive-offs, stock purchase transactions in Indian subsidiaries where…

The Competition Act, 2002 (the “Act”) sets out the regime for anti-competitive practices and merger control in India.  While the Competition Commission of India (the “CCI”) is a fairly young regulator, over the last few years, the jurisprudence on Indian competition law and the merger control regime has developed substantially.  This update highlights a recent…

The Securities and Exchange Board of India (the “SEBI”) actively monitors the Indian securities and commodities markets, and has been implementing new regulations based on market practices.  Some of the more important SEBI circulars issued recently have been discussed in this update. SEBI tightens disclosure norms for credit rating agencies In the aftermath of the…

Financial, legal and risk management services not “Included Services” In the case of US Technology Resources Private Ltd v. DDIT, the Kerala High Court (the “KHC”) has held that management, financial, treasury and risk management services, and advising on legal matters or undertaking public relations activities (collectively, the “Services”) provided by a non-resident to an…

Under India’s Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016 (the “Code”), a potential bidder (who has been party to or caused the indebtedness and insolvency of a company) can be disqualified from bidding for and submitting a resolution plan to rehabilitate the company.  The primary reason for this is to prevent such a bidder from deriving the…

Background On March 26, 2016, the Indian government promulgated the Aadhar (Targeted Delivery of Financial and Other Subsidies, Benefits and Services) Act, 2016 (the “Aadhar Act”) with the objective of, inter alia, providing good governance, and an efficient and transparent delivery of subsidies, benefits and services, to individuals residing in India by assigning of a…

Introduction In a recent judgment in the case of K. Kishan v. Vijay Nirman Company Pvt. Ltd., India’s Supreme Court (the “Supreme Court”) has examined whether an insolvency process can be put into operation when there is a pending proceeding challenging an arbitral award. Background Vijay Nirman Company Pvt. Ltd. (the “Respondent”) entered into a…

Introduction India’s Specific Relief Act, 1963 (the “Act”) permits a party to seek specific performance of a contract as an alternative to seeking damages for breach of contract or failure to perform the contract under the Indian Contract Act, 1872. On January 28, 2016, the Indian government constituted an expert committee to examine the Act…

On July 27, 2018, the committee of experts under the chairmanship of Justice B. N. Srikrishna (the “Committee”) released a report titled, “A Free and Fair Digital Economy – Protecting Privacy, Empowering Indians” (the “Report”), with its analysis and recommendations on a new data privacy regime for India.  Along with the Report, the Committee has…